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Julius Caesar Tragic Hero Essay

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The Tragedy of Markus Brutus In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar many believe that obviously the tragic hero of the play is Julius Caesar but the real tragic hero of the play is Markus Brutus. A tragic hero is one who experiences a traumatic downfall that comes in three stages. Brutus possesses all three stages such as the fatal flaw, a decision that leads to their own destruction, and experience peripeteia (sudden change in fortune). These reasons make Brutus the tragic hero and not Caesar. Every tragic hero has a fatal flaw and Brutus is no exception. Brutus’s fatal flaw is that he believes everyone is trustworthy and honorable just like him. He is taken advantage of by multiple people in the story because of his gullible nature. More notably by Cassius who manipulates Brutus into becoming the leader of the conspirators using a couple very effective tactics. Cassius forges letters, tells him what he wants to hear, and convinces Brutus that Caesar must die. Brutus blindly listens to Cassius and leads him to make the decision that leads to his destruction. …show more content…

When the conspirators come to Brutus’s house to discuss the assassination Cassius proposes that they kill Mark Antony as well as Caesar but Brutus vetoes the idea saying that once they kill Caesar Antony will cower away. Brutus was right about this assumption for the most part for when Caesar was assassinated Antony ran off and sent his servant out to see if it was safe for him to come out. Antony talks with Brutus and shakes his hand, seemingly joining Brutus and accepting him. Antony lies straight to Brutus’s face and Brutus had no idea another example of his gullible nature. Antony is an opportunist and wants revenge for the killing of Caesar so he turns the people against Brutus and begins building an army to challenge

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